Friday, June 30, 2017

Quiet Retreat: Season of Change

When I chose my word for the year I should've chosen the word change but I didn't realize how much of it I'd be seeing in the days ahead. And we have more of it coming.

Some of you know I've been a CC Director for the past five years and transitioned into SR {Support Rep} this past January which has led me to step down from Directing = change.

We lost the church we were meeting at for CC and we know God will provide but we'll be meeting on a different day = change.

Emily will be entering 7th grade and we will still be homeschooling and participating in CC but it will mean a change in our schedule and routines of school. And Samuel will be in Essentials for the first time this year as a rising 4th grader.

Mainly I've been thinking about change as it relates to our home/school schedule. We have been pretty deeply settled into our current routine for a number of years and as we all know change is not bad but it is still change and requires some adjustment!

I've been thinking about how to adjust our schedule and rearrange things like when to go to the grocery store and when to have Slow Day in light of these changes coming our way. And one thing that has jumped out at me this summer is a reminder of my need to journal. This is something I have let fall through the cracks in the last year or more - probably since finishing my book.

Speaking of books, a little update is that my book is still on Amazon. We did have sort of a breakthrough in things with the publisher and although we did plan to stop working with them, it is still there and I'm not entirely sure why and that is ok for now. Thank you for your support in this!

I have a second book in the works although I say that loosely because I wrote about half of it last summer and have only added one chapter since then. I'm praying that God will provide the time and motivation to finish as He did on my first book! I'm so excited about it and look forward to sharing more in the future!

Where was I? Oh yes, journaling. This is something I want to prioritize time for when we get into our back to school rhythm.

Essentially I'm taking what has been working for me for years and trying to see it as a recipe - what ingredients need to be regularly present in our successful home schedule:

- Mondays are my most productive day
- Slow Day has been the day after CC
- lots of time at home
- one day for errands
- Fly Lady chores
- menu planning and shopping once a week
- time for beauty {hint: see second book mention above!}
- Quiet Time and journaling

Another thing that has worked for me is to work at something in daily chunks. For example I want to finish a blog book, I will set a daily or weekly goal and then chip away at it making steady progress.

Another key ingredient for me is good time in the Word before my day begins. I get up early though it is hard to get up before everyone else as there are a couple of early risers in our home! The hardest thing for me is that once I get going, I don't want to stop and never feel like I have enough study, process, read, pray time! Again, I remind myself that a few minutes here and a few minutes there add up to a consistent investment of truth.

During this season of life, I know that my time is more limited with the callings I have on my time as a wife, mother and home educator not to mention many other smaller things. When I prioritize this time with God, it does make a difference in my day and the other things that threaten to overwhelm me fall gracefully into His care of me.

Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

A few other thoughts I'm keeping in mind as we continue in this season of change:

God's purpose will succeed and His Word will accomplish His purposes: Isaiah 55:11, "...so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

John 5:36, "But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me."

Romans 15:17-18a, "In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..."

Ezra 7:10, "For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel."

Proverbs 31:26, "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."

Deuteronomy 6, "Now this is the commandment - the statutes and the rules - that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you - with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant - and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

It is the Lord God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you - for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God - lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested hi at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

When your son asks you in time to come, "What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?" then you shall say to your son, "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.

And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be a righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he commanded us.'"

Talking about home and routines and such is a topic I'm really interested in so now I'd love to hear what works for you and/or what isn't and what you are praying about adjusting this Fall!

Our lives seem to be in a state of constant change... I have medical issues that have led to repeated trips to university hospitals for appointments, tests, procedures, and surgeries. Each of these trips is about 10 hours round trip and involves hotel stays. At the same time, our church discipleship opportunities are changing while our (my) ability to serve has been diminished greatly. Change. Change. Change. I want to hold fast to our unchanging Lord. I want to develop routines that work with our newer status. Food is a huge challenge for me, so I want to work on menus and meals that work for me AND my husband. Gratitude and seeking joy in every day have been lifesavers in these times.

This is a wonderful post. Life has away of changing. Sometimes change is hard because of the unknown of it's out come. But then again change can be a good thing. I am always thankful that these changes are not in the way of dead or sickness. When change does come it's good to know that God is there with us. We can trust in HIM.

This fall in home school will be a big change for us. Our daughter is going into 9th grd...we will be sending in her work in for full accreditation. Meaning we will have deadlines to keep,and a bigger work load. It will take a lot of planning and organization. In the next few weeks we will be working toward it.